Why are most opera singers a little fat?!?

Answer 1

Um, no to the people above me. If anything, the extra weight constricts your lungs because there's more weight baring down on them. When you gain weight, your entire body doesn't grow. You get fat on the outer frame of your body. If you did grow when you gained weight, fat people would look like giants because everything in their body was expanding, rather than adding fat reserves to the outside of your frame.

There are a lot of thin opera singers (Sarah Brightman, Emma Rosenberg, Charlotte Church) but I think the answer lies in the talent needed to perform an opera. You need a special voice and range. Therefore, you can't be as picky with looks when only a very small percentage of people can reach the notes needed for an opera singer.

Answer 2

This is a common question that is often asked in the opera profession. As a professional opera singer myself, based on my experience, it isn't because the opera singer eats too much...but rather, the time of day they usually eat.

Opera singers usually don't eat a great deal before a performance...and usually those performances come later in the evening. So, the singer goes out on stage, sings through a 3-4 hour long opera, and then, after the opera is over, goes to eats like a mad man...or women. They eat large meals late at night, then sleep on it...hence, the weight gain.

Being fat has nothing to do with the size of the voice...or how big the lungs are. That is a stero-type that holds very little weight.

Answer 3

I completely agree with Nate S about the time when opera singers have to eat, but would like to add a bit more

Opera singer being fat is the same type of stereotype as athletes not being smart (I don't agree with the stereotype, but it is a stereotype none the less). Professional athletes spend all their time perfecting their craft as do opera singers. The training for opera singers is so intense from learning 4 languages to memorizing 300 pages of music and singing them in a 4,000 seat theater without a mic (in front of a very critical audience I might add). Being an opera singer is an entire life style and is hard enough as it is, as a result, it is hard for some singers to keep there weight down in addition to all the other things they have to worry about.

Continuing with the athlete metaphor: there are many different types of athletes as there are many different types of opera singers. The majority of people know that there are soprano, mezzo, baritone, and bass but even in those categories there are even more subcategories (soubrette, lyric, spinto, dramatic, and Wagnerian). When most people think of an opera singer they think of the big lady with the viking horns and that is a Wagnerian Soprano who sings the heaviest repertoire and has to have the loudest voice. As a result, she has to be physically bigger than a suobrette, the lightest voice type. While it is not determined by a singers weight, it is determine by a singers body type (specifically the face structure) and bone structure, since the voice has its own special quality from the bones the air vibrates against. Wagnerian sopranos tend to be larger, but Karita Mattila is tall and has a bigger bone structure but is quite thin and she is a Wagnerian soprano. It all depends!

There is a wanting for opera singers to conform to a more Hollywood look, like Anna Netrebko who is "movie-star" gorgeous. Also Deborah Voigt was fired from an opera house for being too heavy, and ended up getting gastric bypass surgery. So the saying "Ain't over 'til the fat lady sings" might not be in existence for a whole lot longer.

Answer 4

because most fat opera singers have big lungs and can often sound better.

Answer 5

they need the lung support to project to the huge opera houses. holding those loooong notes is not easy. bigger people have bigger lungs.

thats about right. hope it helps a bit. :-)

Answer 6

good question.

i guess the extra weight gives them .......... i dont even know.
stronger lungs? but then they'd get winded faster......... go ask an opera singer

Answer 7

So the Phrase, "Ain't over til the fat lady sings" will always apply.

Answer 8

HAHA you're just being nice by saying "a little fat" huh???

Answer 9

Because they eat too much

Answer 10

so they can scream like they do